5 Days of Pumpkins

What kind of face should I carve a happy face or a scarry one?

I guess it doesn't matter since Daddy does all the carving anyway.


I thought I would try to make this week special by making something with pumpkin or some other type of squash each night . So far I have been able to keep to the plan. Monday night I out did myself by making a sweet potato casserole and a Turtle Pumpkin Pie among the main meal and biscuits. Tuesday we had spaghetti and spaghetti squash, Thursday I made those lowfat pumpkin cookies and we carved pumpkins which Lillie tried to eat the top off of hers.

Anyway, the Sweet potato casserole comes from the cooking light magazine which I am a total fan of. I love getting the magazine in the mail and dreaming about the meals that I might one day cook once we get passed the noodle and the peanut butter and honey stage. But, I do however try to make a meal once or twice a month out of the ordinary.. I usually end up substituting ingredients because I don't have them on hand but I have learned from the Queen of Improvising and Substituting (My mom) so many of these recipes end up tasting well.

This is a Vandersteen family favorite and has even won over my Grandmother's recipe of Yams and Apples.This one is now part of our Thanksgiving menu.


Sweet Potato Casserole (go to this link for a picture since I didn't take a picture of ours)

Yield
16 servings
Ingredients
Potatoes:
2 1/4 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 cup half-and-half
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
Cooking spray
Topping:
1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
1/2 cup all-purpose flour (about 2 1/4 ounces)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
Preparation
Preheat oven to 375°.
To prepare potatoes, place potatoes in a Dutch oven, and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until very tender. Drain; cool slightly.
Place potatoes in a large bowl. Add half-and-half, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, and vanilla. Beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Add eggs; beat well (mixture will be thin). Scrape mixture into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.
To prepare topping, sprinkle miniature marshmallows over top of casserole. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in pecans, and sprinkle over potato mixture and marshmallows. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Our Turtle Pumpkin Pie

1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. caramel ice cream topping, divided
1 honey Maid Graham cracker crust (which I didn't have on hand I ended up making a nilla wafer crust)
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp of pecan pieces, divided
1 cup cold milk
2 pkg (3.4 oz.) Vanilla Instant pudding
1 cup of canned pumpkin
1/2 tsp of ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 tub (8 oz) whipped topping
Pour 1/4 cup caramel topping into crust; sprinkle with 1/2 cup pecans, Beat milk, pudding mixes and spices with a whisk until blended. Stir in 1 1/2 cups of whipped topping. Spread into crust. Refigerate at least 1 hour. Top with remaining whipped topping, caramel topping and pecans before serving. Makes 10 servings.

Sunday's Fall Walk

Today is Sunday... a day that we usually go on our family walk. Today I decided to take along our camera hoping to get some candid photos of the children and possibly some with fall leaves for an Enrichment project that is coming up. I enlisted Mike to help me with this project.. he of course started to take pictures of this up on the hillside.
We did eventually get all the kids together for this one.
Lillie in the grass

Isaac in his cave

Books, Books, and more books!

What have you been reading for this season? I am addicted to scholastic and all their catalogs so I have got a collection of Halloween Books for the children. My ultimate favorite Halloween book is "Big Pumpkin" by Erica Silverman though I don't have it yet. I am still looking for the song that goes with it. Isaac's favorites are "Ten Timid Ghosts", "Big Green Monster", and "5 Little Pumpkins." Lillie's favorite is "Skeleton Hiccups." We also have favorites that need to be read everyday such as "Goodnight Gorilla"(5 times from me. I don't know how many times Mike read it for her), "We're going on a Bear Hunt", and "I am a Crane" :)!!!

We are gearing up for the big night... Halloween!

For family night, Mike worked on Isaac's Bat costume. It is really neat to see an engineering mind to wings for a bat costume.

Sycamore Canyon

A DAY AT THE BEACH

Friday Oct. 17th we all headed out to the beach. It was Mike's parents last day here. We thought we were going to go tidepooling but instead ended up at Sycamore Canyon State Beach. It was a beautiful day to go to the beach. If I planned the day better I would have brought the beach towels, a change of clothing for Isaac and Lillie, the beach quilt and of course.. lunch. Plans do happen to change suddenly but it was a good day at the beach.

Grandpa, Ari, Mike and Lillie

Isaac playing in the sand and trying to climb trees


Ari's first day at the beach and is 1 month old!

Isaac getting a ride from Daddy

Lillie caught eating the sand..again! Smug grin!

Lillie enjoyed her time with Grandma. She loved getting her feet wet and watch the waves crash.

What a beautiful Day! The water and sky were a beautiful blue.

Isaac preferred to find treasures in the sand rather than get his feet wet. I thought this pic was a real treasure. He got himself dressed that morning. Can you tell?

Proposition 8

This is from an email that an Oakland Temple ordinance worker sent to people in our ward]



Dear family and friends, I had a very disturbing experience yesterday ... Early Friday morning I received a call from the second counselor in our bishopric to let me know that there would be numerous protesters outside the temple.... The beautiful Oakland Temple is located right across the bay from San Francisco, very close to the city of Berkeley. Apparently the opposition to proposition 8 ... has realized the deep involvement of the Church and begun to protest right outside of the temple and harass temple patrons.... As we approached the offramp, I realized there would be trouble. There was a backup onto the freeway from cars stalled on the offramp. As we moved forward inches at a time, we realized this was due to a large group of loud protesters who were standing on both sides of the street, yelling, screaming and waving signs. When we got to the top of the offramp, ready to make our turn, one protester jumped out right in front of our car. It took my husband all his self control to carefully maneuver around him to the left and proceed to the temple. I tried not to listen to all they were shouting at us, but I was shaking as I got to the temple front door. Several of the sisters, especially the ones driving on their own, were crying ... Later, as I was sitting in the perfect quiet of the chapel, I couldn't help but think of Lehi's dream, and the people who mocked the Saints from the big spacious building but "we heeded them not." It was a truly surreal experience, I'd never thought that I would have to go through an angry crowd to get to the temple. As we left late at night, the protesters had dispersed, temple security (who all looked very large and Tongan) stood by the gates. I never saw a single police man. Please pray for those of us in California fighting for prop 8--it's getting kind of scary out here!

It's true.. it is getting scary here in California. Many people have had signs stolen or vandalized on their lawn. Mike is currently working on calls while I get the kids bathed and ready for bed. We are trying to do are part to get this passed. We hope and pray that it does and your prayers will help us too.

Vote YES on Prop 8
Here are just a few examples of how this will affect us if it does not pass.
1. Children in public schools will be taught that the marriage model encompasses any combination of genders. This would be taught as early as Kindergarten. (Already happening in Massachusetts, watch the video below if you don't believe me)
2. Churches could be sued if they refuse to allow same-sex marriage ceremonies.
3. Religious Adoption agencies will be challenged by gov agencies to give up their long-held right to place children only in homes with both a mother and a father. (Already happening in Massachusetts)
4. Ministers who preach against same-sex marriages (i.e. the plan of salvation and eternal marriage) will be sued for "hate speech" and could be fined by the gov (Already happening in Canada)
5. It will cost you money. All of these lawsuits and court cases will have to be paid by someone. And with the type of judges we have today, do you really think we would win?
I know it is a tough fight we are facing, but the consequences of this proposition not passing scares me more than the fight I must give in the next month.
Please help us pull together as a society to pass Proposition 8!!!!!
Go to http://www.protectmarriage.com/ to see what you can do to help or to get more information about it.
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Here is the link to the movie about teaching kindergartners about same sex marriage in a public school in Massachusetts.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1815825713/bctid1819819843

The Day at the Pumpkin Patch

Pumpkin Patch Pickin'

On Monday the 13th, Mike's parents and I packed up the children and headed to Underwood Family Farms. It was a very windy day. The farm was packed with people when we first got there until everyone received word about a fire breaking out on highway 118, then the farm turned into a ghost town all you needed were big tumble weeds to blow through it. Isaac and Lillie enjoyed themselves anyway. They enjoyed looking at the animals, climbing hay bales, looking for perfect pumpkins and of course riding tractors.

Lillie looking right at the camera.. Yea! you have got to take what you can get.

The littlest Pumpkin slept throught the whole visit. I tried to cover her the best I could with all the dust and dirt blowing.

In the hay.. They had a big pyramid there for the kids to climb. Grandma helped Isaac and Lillie climb all the way to the top.

In the train that all the kids loved to climb on.

IF you can drive it he will come. Isaac loves driving everything. Underwood Family Farms had many and many tractors that Isaac loved to look at. Three of them children could ride and pretend to drive them. Isaac, as his grandparents pointed out could do this all day.. who cares about pumpkins. I agreed. At the farm they also had several animals.. in the goat pen was an old truck. This goat happened to be in the truck. Isaac kept on saying that he wanted to drive this truck with the goat. Grandma tried to tell him that this truck was the goats truck.

Grandma and Grandpa took Isaac on a real Tractor ride through the pumpkin patch which Isaac truly enjoyed.

Grandma and Grandpa come for a visit

Ari with Grandma and Grandpa Davenport. I really wanted to get a picture of them together and with the children but it never happened. Oh well.. There's always Christmas.

We were so excited to have Mike's parents come visit us for a whole week from Maryland. They arrived on the 11th and were happy to meet the new arrival. We were able to actually go and do several fun things while packing along three small children. I feel very grounded having three.. I don't know when the time will arrive that I will be able to take all three children alone and feel that I am in control as a mother. Picking up Isaac from preschool, walking in with a newborn and 1 year old to sing closing circle songs, shooing Isaac out the door and trying to hold his hand while carrying Lillie and Ari in her carseat at the same time and walk across street without Isaac being hit by a car is about enough for me. I usually feel on top of things.. but I don't know if I will ever feel on top for a long time.

Anyway.. Mike's parents were alot of help. Isaac enjoyed getting them up at 5:30 am rather than us. They helped cook and clean up after the children. They took them on long walks. I was able to have several breaks from all those "Mommy" moments. I even caught up on some sleep and took a few uninterrupted luxerious baths. I cried when they left. I wish they lived closer.

Easy Pumpkin Cookies

Tis' the season for pumpkins, ghosts, and witches
Frankenstein, and vampire bats
we love making cookies for neighbors and friends
and leaving them signed by the phantom.

Easy Pumpkin Cookies!

15oz. can of pumpkin

1 spice cake mix

1 bag of chocolate chips

Mix ingredients together. Grease cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 10 min. until brown on edges.

And that's it. No egg or butter. One cookie is one point for you weight watcher fans.

Superman and a Birthday Celebration

Isaac loves wearing his superman pajamas which he received from his cousin Dallin after he outgrew them. Wearing the Cape is an absolute must! Here he is holding his new sis, Ari with some help from Daddy.We celebrated Mike's 34th birthday on the 26th of September. He had no presents to open because we either ordered them late or it was on back order. He finally received his book on Oct. 6th. The pumpkin pie did get made by me. Mike loves his pumpkin pie and we have had it every year for his birthday complete with all the whip cream. We also had home-made vanilla ice cream. Mike did put all 34 candles on his pie it took me awhile to light them.. He is getting so old. (ha ha!!!)
Lillie eating pie

Isaac..where this expression came from I haven't a clue. Its totally hilarious! Its all about the whip cream.